New All-Island Initiative to Enhance Donegal’s Reputation for Food and Drink

20:04 Thursday 16th of May 2019

Nearly fifty businesses and individuals from Donegal today attended Fáilte Ireland’s Taste the Island workshop in Harvey’s Point. This is part of a series of workshops taking place across Ireland over the next number of weeks to develop a strong programme of food and drink experiences that can be included in the Taste the Island initiative. A number of promotional videos were created for the workshop and can be viewed HERE.

Globally, Ireland is known as a nation with a vibrant culture with green fields and pristine waters together with a mild wet climate which gives us bountiful, sustainable and high-quality food produce. To enhance this reputation and to secure a greater reputation for Ireland in 2020 and beyond, a new all-island initiative – ‘Taste the Island – a celebration of Ireland’s food and drink’has been developed by Fáilte Ireland, in collaboration with Tourism Ireland, Tourism Northern Ireland and a range of stakeholders.

The new initiative, Taste the Island, will showcase Ireland’s world-class food and drink culture across the island of Ireland from September to November by providing visitors with access to authentic food and drink experiences, high quality local ingredients and world class Irish food and drink produce. In 2018 food and drink consumption accounted for around €2.6bn, or 35% of visitor spend and this expensive programme will seek to create an awareness and renewed appreciation at home and abroad of the strength and richness of Ireland’s food culture today.

“The range and quality of food and drink experiences that we met in Donegal today are really world class and have the potential to drive a lot more tourists to this area. We know that there is scope for growth around food and drink for tourists and aligned with our world-famous seascapes and landscapes, in particular in the Donegal area, we have an incredibly strong offering to motivate tourists to visit here.

Taste the Island is designed to showcase Ireland’s fantastic food and drink across September, October and November and I look forward to seeing some really strong ideas coming out of today’s workshop. What’s really important now is that people submit their proposals outlining what they are going to do for Taste the Island for what’s shaping up to be chock full season of food festivals and events all showcasing our world class produce.

Noel Cunningham, Harvey's Point commented:"Harvey's Pont are delighted to be the first to host this increadible initiative from Fáilte Ireland . Taste the Island is a timely initiatibve for the industry to grasp the opportunity of innocation and firmly establish Ireland as a food destination that can complete with anywhere in the world."

To kickstart the new and exciting initiative, Fáilte Ireland have invited businesses and individuals interested in providing tourists with a food or drink experience to attend workshops in their local area. Today’s workshop which takes place in Harvey’s Point in Donegal is the first of eighteen workshops for the industry to learn more and provide them with the opportunity to shape the development of a programme of events and experiences for 2019.

Ms Coughlan continued:

This initiative supports Fáilte Ireland’s strategic imperative to address seasonality and grow revenue by driving increasing bed nights outside of the summer season while also driving visitors to explore lesser-known locations across the country and will, in the long term, enhance Ireland, and indeed Donegal’s international food and drink reputation before they get here.”

A new Toolkit guide (attached and can be viewed here: www.failteireland.ie) on how the industry can deliver and maximise the opportunities in food and drink tourism, including a step by step guide for their business built around these 5 pillars:

Trail/Networks – over 30 trails or clusters of businesses working together to enhance the visitor’s food and drink experience all over the country

Festivals and Events – We are building a programme full of festivals and events throughout the Taste the Island from September to November 2019

If you have a story or want to send a photo or video to us please contact the Donegal Now editorial team. Between 9am and 5pm Monday to Sunday please call 074 9112712. Between 5pm and midnight please call or text 086 792 2103. Or you can email [email protected] at any time.

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